As I’ve mentioned often, I’ve had a lot of jobs. Because I’ve also had a variety of positions, I always note how people react when I tell them what I do. I have this on my mind after coming off a weekend where I met a lot of people, and they asked what I do, and I asked what they do, but it’s something I’ve always noticed and found interesting. There is always some variance from person to person based on their own perceptions and experiences, but there is a most common reaction for each job.
- Barnes & Noble, the most common reaction was, “Fun! Wow, so you read a lot? That must be a great job.” This is usually followed by a small sigh of envy. This was when I was in my early twenties, so I wonder if the reaction would be different if I still worked there. My friend and co-worker, The Ausausin, and I used to loathe this reaction and do everything we could to convince the person otherwise. By this point, we were both quite bitter with our circumstances and the job’s luster had been worn away by horrible management, ridiculous customer demands, and crazy, stalking, and just creepy customers.
- Tv station, the most common reaction was a wide-eyed, “Really? That is so cool. How did you get that job?” Then there would be a pause where the person would study my face to see if I looked familiar to which I would reply, “I work in production.” People were fascinated with that job even though it paid the worst and had the worst hours of any position I’ve ever held. I did enjoy telling people that I worked there, though, because no one had any idea what the job was. If I was at Barnes & Noble, people could come in and see me working–no mystique there. With tv station, no one had any idea, and if I did bring them to work, they’d just see a lot of scary-looking equipment and minor, local celebrities.
- Stupid pepsi–admittedly, when I tell people about this job, I usually say something along the lines of “I used to work in a call center selling Pepsi products over the phone.” This prompts people to say, “Who doesn’t know about Pepsi that you would have to sell them on it?” Then I explain the situation and how it actually worked, and watch their eyes glaze over.
- Librarian–this is one that I’m still exploring, obviously. I read yesterday in one of my library blogs that a woman told a used-car salesman that she was a librarian, and the man laughed out loud, then mumbled something about a dying profession (clearly, she did not buy a car from him). Thankfully, I haven’t had that reaction yet, but I have encountered a certain amount of skepticism, in particular, when I was in grad school for library science. I was in the Virgin Islands over the weekend, and I got to chatting with a couple guys on the local bus. One lived in Puerto Rico, and the other on some other small island, and were the kind of people who talk about buying boats as investments and how great it is to live on a small island in the Caribbean. When they asked what I did for a living, and I said librarian, the more chatty one said, “Good for you!” That, or something like that, is the reaction that I get most often. It’s kind of like if I said that I feed the homeless, or rescue animals or something. It’s not quite what I expected, but I don’t mind either.
Because this is something I’m intrigued with, I asked The Ausausin, who is now a nurse, how people react when she tells then her job. “If I just say that I’m a nurse, then they usually seem to feel sorry for me, ‘just a nurse, huh?’ kind of thing. If I tell them what kind of nurse I am, or what my work actually involves, then people think it’s pretty impressive.” When my friend the Lutheran minister meets people in social settings, she almost always has to reassure them that she’s not there to judge their choices, just to hang out.
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November 10, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Corrie
When I worked as a children’s librarian, I would get a lot of, “Awwww, so cute” or “librarian? That must be relaxing”. Neither are appreciated. Now that I am a reference librarian, I fully expect questioners to bow at my awsomeness.
November 10, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Libby Walkup
I fall into the North Dakotan self-deprecating style of spinning where I’ve worked and I talk down about everything I do/have done. “I work at a coffee shop, but I have a master’s.” Or “I have a master’s and I work in a coffee shop, don’t get too excited.” Master’s in what? they ask, “Creative Writing, what the hell am I gonna do with that?” The only cool job I ever had was Discontent, but I worked there six months and still only made minimum wage. The only job I sort of liked and made enough to live was Swanson’s call center, but it WAS a call center.
See how I do that? Pretty clever, huh? Apparently I’m not happy with anything I do… I’m working on that.
November 10, 2009 at 4:32 pm
ladyandria
When I did my stint as “girl with creative writing masters who works at coffee shop” I used to avoid bringing up my education whenever possible. People would ask, “do you go to school?” I would say, “I graduated,” then once pressed, I would admit that I had a masters. Often they seemed very disappointed in me and acted like I wasn’t applying myself or using my potential. Then I started telling then that I was applying to grad school again and saving my pennies, which somehow was okay with people.
I did occasionally make fun of my creative writing masters, but had to quit because it got depressing and then some people would ask what I was working on, and then when I said nothing, it made me look like a complete slacker– no one wants that in a barista!
November 11, 2009 at 10:50 pm
Culture Friend
I managed a Blockbuster for a while, and it would always amaze me that people would treat me terribly at that store, after all I was simply a retail employee and how dare I even think to tell them that they returned a movie late and owed $2!
Two days later, that same person would come to the library, and would be so nice to me, even I would tell them about their late library movie for which they owed $2.
They didn’t recognize me from job to job, but apparently it is okay to be a library assistant at the circulation desk but I must be somehow inferior when managing an entire retail store.
December 2, 2009 at 2:14 pm
memsaab
I like to tell people that I’m a large animal veterinarian. Maybe one day I’ll meet an actual large animal vet, but until then people just think I’m pretty cool.